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News and notes
National drug policy experts are headlining Maine's opioid response summit.
— The Bangor event will feature 34 breakout sessions and will feature in-person addresses from Gov. Janet Mills and U.S. Sen. Angus King. Among the headlining speakers are Anne Milgram, the head of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, and Rahul Gupta, director of national drug control policy. It started at 8 a.m. and registration is here.
— The opioid crisis has worsened nationally and in Maine during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fatal overdoses in Portland already surpassed the 2021 total this year. Through May, overdoses statewide were up 20 percent over last year.
Governors — and lobbyists — are descending on Maine's largest city.
— The National Governors Association's summer meeting will be based at the Holiday Inn By the Bay in Portland from Wednesday through Friday. In addition to governors, their families and staff, 600 attendees are expected, according to Visit Portland.
— The public schedule includes panel discussions on computer science education, tourism, a virtual discussion with country music legend Dolly Parton on her literacy program and the transition of NGA leadership from Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.
— But the meeting will be most interesting as a political and society event. Mills plans to showcase Maine's tourism attributes. Lobbyists will be buzzing around the powerful group of attendees, with a trade group for state-level advocates holding a Wednesday event at a downtown brewery. |
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What we're reading
— With the Central Maine Power Co. corridor stalled and facing potentially fatal court rulings, a proposed Aroostook County transmission line is emerging as an alternative to fulfill a huge Massachusetts clean-power request.
— The BDN's Jessica Piper breaks down the demographic and political shift in the Portland suburbsand why it makes former Gov. Paul LePage's 2022 campaign against Mills different than his last two races.
— One restaurant owner bought a motel to house workers and make money on the side. Another is pulling 17-hour shifts. Both are examples of how the industry is preparing for a future with fewer workers.
— Forever chemicals have been detected in public water supplies in Skowhegan, Oakland and Fryeburg in another example of what one expert called a "universal crisis."
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| Eric Dayan of Montville holds his youngest child, 11-month-old Solomon, in front of the truck he uses for work as an arborist. His $20,000 wood chipper was stolen from his property last weekend, making it difficult to work. (BDN photo by Abigail Curtis) |
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| 📷 Lead photo: Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, departs the chamber during votes at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday as lawmakers react to a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school. (AP photo by J. Scott Applewhite) |
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